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WORLDWATCH Data centres Civil War reenactment in the Manassas National Battlefield Park n the southwestern outskirts of Washington DC, the capital’s residential suburbs slowly give way to historic towns, a protected Civil War battlefield, rolling hills and the green pastures of Northern Virginia. For residents, however, the sounds of the countryside are interrupted by a constant hum – the noise of thousands of cooling systems that keep the internet’s traffic flowing. O POWER GRAB Data centre energy consumption (in megawatts) Seattle 105 Portland 82 Silicon Valley 615 Salt Lake City 203 Las Vegas 173 Dallas 654 Source: Cushman & Wakefield, DataCenterHawk Chicago 555 Boston 95 New York 92 Columbus 41 Northern Virginia 2,552 Various sources, from Greenpeace to the Washington Post, claim that anywhere between a third and 70 per cent of the world’s internet traffic flows through a handful of rural counties in the American northeast. While these figures are difficult to verify, the region is host to the largest concentration of data centres in the world. Large, windowless, warehouse-like data centres that house the high-speed computers needed for our growing reliance on 5G and AI technologies rise up amid the traditional farm buildings. Across the globe, in major cities such as London and Beijing, there has been a recent explosion in the number of new data centres being built, but nowhere more so than in Northern Virginia – which has been dubbed Phoenix 615 Atlanta 360 ‘Data Centre Alley’. Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at the Piedmont Environmental Council, says that there are a number of reasons why. At first, it was the close proximity to federal government services and the availability of affordable land. Over time, and with the development of Amazon’s sevenbuilding data centre in 2006, all the services needed to build and run a data centre – from construction services to maintenance staff to emergency generators to security personnel – were within easy reach of anyone wanting to build a new one. ‘Now everybody wants to be in the biggest data centre market in the world,’ says Bolthouse. ‘And that means everybody wants to be here.’ Not everyone is happy about that. Residents have complained about the noise and the visual blight of huge warehouses. Some fear data centres will depress property prices. The Piedmont Environmental Council, an environmental organisation in Virginia, worries about the immense energy consumption of these facilities and the strain they put on the power grid. ‘We 8 . GEOGRAPHICAL
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HUGH KENNY/PIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL Data centres in West Virginia’s Loudoun County Proposed PW Digital Gateway Data Centre Campus Manassas National Battlefield Park M A N A S S A S N P S PIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL have a utility company that can offer endless amounts of power, and I say endless because it will always build more infrastructure,’ says Bolthouse. ‘One of our big concerns is that residents are subsidising this industry; we’re helping to pay for all the new infrastructure.’ In addition to energy, concerns have been raised about the vast amount of water needed for cooling systems. ‘In Loudoun county,’ says Bolthouse, ‘potable water usage has increased by about 270 per cent as a result of data centres.’ In some parts of the state, data centres are relying on groundwater extraction for cooling. ‘And that also is very concerning, because no-one’s really paying attention to how much is being withdrawn.’ One particularly contentious project is the Prince William Digital Gateway. This massive data complex, planned for an area adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield Park, would sprawl across two square kilometres – an area roughly the size of five Pentagons, adds Piedmont Environmental Council’s president Chris Miller. Proponents tout the economic benefits, including tax revenue and job creation. But critics, which include the council as well as the American Battlefield Trust and local residents, are worried about the environmental costs. ‘Imagine building a structure of that size next to Hampstead Heath,’ says Miller. ‘It’s that level of industrial impact on a national park that’s so staggering.’ Bolthouse explains that local governments in Virginia are ‘very accommodating’ to the expanding data centre industry. As a result, there are no government data on the number of existing data centres in Northern Virginia, the number of new applications, or the amount of resources they will use. ‘We’re the only ones who are even attempting to map what’s out there,’ she says. ‘Our locality should not be able to approve something like the Digital Gateway in one fell swoop without any type of state oversight.’ As data centres continue to expand around cities across the world, Bolthouse says that the USA represents the canary in the coal mine. ‘You can look to see what we’ve done, and see what could happen in the UK.’ l NEWS OF NOTE Updates f rom around the world CANADA An analysis of 28 Canadian volcanoes has revealed that none are monitored to internationally recognised levels, including two that are classed as a very high threat – Mount Garibaldi and Mount Meager, both of which are in British Columbia. SOUTH KOREA A new high-speed train service between central Seoul and its outskirts could help to boost South Korea’s low fertility rate, say government officials. The US$99.5 billion underground system will cut journey times from 80 to 19 minutes, allowing commuters to spend more time with their families and making it easier for young people to buy homes outside the capital. THE NETHERLANDS Spring is a quiet time for the canals of Utrecht, with few boats passing through the city. This has led to fish getting trapped behind unopened locks, leaving them vulnerable to predators. To help the fish safely migrate, ecologists have installed a ‘fish doorbell’, an underwater camera that allows viewers worldwide to check whether any fish are waiting at the closed lock. SOUTH AMERICA Venezuela’s parliament has approved the creation of a new state under its sovereignty in the oil-rich region of Essequibo, a long-disputed territory that comprises two-thirds of neighbouring Guyana, amid an ongoing international court case. IRAN Iran has released four members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation after six years. The scientists, who were imprisoned for espionage, had been conducting research on species such as the Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard. JUNE 2024 . 9

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WORLDWATCH Data centres

Civil War reenactment in the Manassas National

Battlefield Park n the southwestern outskirts of Washington DC, the capital’s residential suburbs slowly give way to historic towns, a protected Civil War battlefield, rolling hills and the green pastures of Northern Virginia. For residents, however, the sounds of the countryside are interrupted by a constant hum – the noise of thousands of cooling systems that keep the internet’s traffic flowing.

O POWER GRAB

Data centre energy consumption (in megawatts)

Seattle 105 Portland 82 Silicon Valley 615

Salt Lake City 203

Las Vegas 173

Dallas 654

Source: Cushman & Wakefield, DataCenterHawk

Chicago 555

Boston 95 New York 92

Columbus 41

Northern Virginia 2,552

Various sources, from Greenpeace to the Washington Post, claim that anywhere between a third and 70 per cent of the world’s internet traffic flows through a handful of rural counties in the American northeast. While these figures are difficult to verify, the region is host to the largest concentration of data centres in the world. Large, windowless, warehouse-like data centres that house the high-speed computers needed for our growing reliance on 5G and AI technologies rise up amid the traditional farm buildings.

Across the globe, in major cities such as London and Beijing, there has been a recent explosion in the number of new data centres being built, but nowhere more so than in Northern Virginia – which has been dubbed

Phoenix 615

Atlanta 360

‘Data Centre Alley’. Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at the Piedmont Environmental Council, says that there are a number of reasons why. At first, it was the close proximity to federal government services and the availability of affordable land. Over time, and with the development of Amazon’s sevenbuilding data centre in 2006, all the services needed to build and run a data centre – from construction services to maintenance staff to emergency generators to security personnel – were within easy reach of anyone wanting to build a new one. ‘Now everybody wants to be in the biggest data centre market in the world,’ says Bolthouse. ‘And that means everybody wants to be here.’

Not everyone is happy about that. Residents have complained about the noise and the visual blight of huge warehouses. Some fear data centres will depress property prices. The Piedmont Environmental Council, an environmental organisation in Virginia, worries about the immense energy consumption of these facilities and the strain they put on the power grid. ‘We

8 . GEOGRAPHICAL

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